The IGSHPA Conference & Expo is 46 days away. The committee has been notifying speakers and making final plans to make this the best conference to date. New items include a leadership panel, a contractors panel, a manufacturers awards dinner, a dedicated research track, and a mixture of technical and sales sessions in the general track.

Marketing Committee
The marketing committee met to review the Geo Outlook workings for 2017. Product showcase spots are still available for quarter one for a reduced rate of $200.

Membership Committee
Membership renewals have been received in the IGSHPA office. New membership cards are in the mail. Let Gail Ezepek know if you have renewed and not received your updated accreditation or membership cards.

To honor the outstanding applications and innovations in the ground source heat pump industry in the past year, IGSHPA is pleased to announce the call for nominees for the following awards. Recipients will be recognized during the awards dinner March 15, 2017 during the 2017 IGSHPA Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado. Award areas open for nomination are: residential innovation, commercial innovation, friends of the industry, IGSHPA Visionary Award, and IGSHPA Ambassador Award.

Award guidelines:

• Projects must have been installed from November 1, 2015-October 31, 2016.
• Nominations must be made by January 31, 2017.
• Nominees can nominate themselves or others for awards.
• Recipients can receive an award in only one category.
• Membership in IGSHPA is not a prerequisite to receive an award.

Nomination Form

The conference agenda for the website is being finalized and will be online next week. Make sure to check out the conference homepage for an overview of all the items at the conference.

Register now!

The Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Convention Center will serve as the host hotel for the 2017 conference and expo. Make your room reservations with the hotel directly through the website and or by calling 1-866-378-1583. Use the code GSH when reserving your rooms. Single rooms are $105 per night and double rooms are $115 per night. The hotel room rate will expire when the block fills up or on February 19, whichever comes first.

IGSHPA and the Canadian Standards Association entered into a license and distribution agreement November 1, 2016, for IGSHPA to distribute ANSI/CSA C448 Series-16-Design and Installation of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems for Commercial and Residential Buildings. IGSHPA is able to offer the standards to IGSHPA members as a member benefit for a special member price of $100, whereas, the list price for the standards is $155.

Members can visit http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/publication/manuals.htm#CSA to purchase their copy of the standard.

You can now earn CEUs online through the IGSHPA website! Earn .2 CEUs per hour of videos watched with an online quiz passing grade of 100%. To gain access to the videos to earn CEUs, visit the website to register for the video site.

For your IGSHPA accreditation renewal, you will need a total of 8 CEUs, 7 of which can be achieved through employment and organization membership. You will need 1 CEU that can be achieved by watching these learning videos and taking a short quiz at the end of each video. Access to these videos is FREE until January 31, 2017.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is conducting a research project to provide a thorough assessment on the current state of the art of typical ground heat exchanger installation methods, installation technologies, and needed equipment and materials. The goal of this study is to identify technology improvements needed to facilitate wider adoption of ground source heat pump systems in both the commercial and residential sectors. This study will include a national survey of installation process and associated cost estimation performed by ground heat exchanger installation contractors and other industry professionals. The assessment will first develop baseline specifications for typical installation scenarios that cover a large fraction of the residential and commercial market. These installation scenarios will then be subjected to operational and cost analysis in order to identify the key technologies and economic drivers in the installation process. Finally, after the key drivers are identified and quantified, recommendations for technology or installation process improvements with the potential to improve ground heat exchanger installation economics will be made.